LOS ANGELES - Winds gusting at as much as 84 miles per hour lashed the Southland today amid single-digit humidity and unseasonably high temperatures, creating what forecasters called “extreme fire danger.”

A red flag warning signifying a high risk of wildfire went into effect yesterday in much of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties and was scheduled to expire at 8 tonight.

The National Weather Service reported that the Santa Ana winds were generating gusts of between 45 and 60 miles per hour across coastal and valley areas and, generally, between 60 and 70 mph in the mountains, though some gusts were even more powerful.

After 1 a.m. today, the NWS recorded gusts of 84 mph in Chilao, 72 in Warm Springs and 71 at Camp Nine -- all three in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County -- and 74 mph in Topanga Hills, 61 mph in Whittier Hills, 60 mph in the Newhall Pass and 46 mph at Palmdale Lake.

Along with the high winds, the humidity level was expected to remain below 10 percent today, according to the NWS. Humidity levels of only between 3 percent and 8 percent were forecast for the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys, and of between 3 and 7 percent in metropolitan Los Angeles, along the coast and in the Hollywood Hills.

No specific humidity level was forecast for the mountains, although the NWS said it would remain in the single digits.

“The combination of moderate to strong Santa Ana winds, widespread single-digit humidities, and hot temperatures will bring an extended period of extreme fire danger to much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties” through this evening, according to an NWS advisory.

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“If fire ignition occurs there could be rapid spread of wildfire that would lead to a threat to life and property.”

Temperatures were forecast to remain high today but begin a gradual descent Friday. Downtown L.A, for example, was forecast to hit a high of 98 degrees Fahrenheit today, 93 Friday, 83 Saturday, 74 Sunday and 70 Monday. For Pasadena, the forecast called for a high of 100 today, 98 Friday, 90 Saturday, 79 Sunday and 72 Monday.

In Los Angeles County, the red flag warning applied virtually everywhere, but not the Antelope Valley. Specifically cited as red flag areas were the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains; the Angeles National Forest; the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys; and the so-called Los Angeles coastal zone, which runs from Malibu to the Hollywood Hills and includes beach cities, downtown L.A. and the rest of metropolitan Los Angeles.

Wednesday’s winds knocked down power lines. Riverside County and San Fernando Valley customers remained the hardest hit of Southern California’s power consumers early today, as high winds slowed down line repairs.

At least 3,000 Southern California Edison customers remained without power, according to the company’s outage map, including 1,800 in Riverside County, and around 800 in Los Angeles County.

Most of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers who remained in the dark were in the Valley, where Chatsworth and Reseda took the brunt of the outages. An LADWP tweet said an estimated 900 customers were without power.